Complementary Color Schemes
Complementary colors are located across from each other on the color wheel:
- Red and green
- Red-violet and yellow-green
- Red-orange and blue-green
- Yellow and purple
- Yellow-orange and blue-violet
- Blue and orange
It's often best to use one complementary color in smaller quantities than its pair. For instance, if you select yellow and purple, do not sew the quilt with equal amounts of the two colors. Instead, use one as a highlight, sprinkling it throughout your design.
Split Complementary Themes
A split complementary layout is made by selecting three colors that are side by side on the color wheel, then adding the color that is directly across the color wheel from the color at the center of the trio.If you read color books you'll find many more ways to structure color in your quilts, but the truth is, there are no bad color combinations. Some quilt designs are more successful than others because the quilters had the ability to choose an excellent assortment of fabrics to represent their color choices. Lights, darks, tones, tints, neutrals... combination is the key.
Forget about all the "rules" you've heard about colors that do and do not "match," because you can make any color work with any other color by playing with different versions of it. Scrap quilts are a perfect example of stunning quilts that are stitched from every color imaginable.
Use the color wheel, experiment with the basic color themes, then let your imagination take over. Try something new. Sometimes our "mistakes" turn out to be our best successes.
